Kenan Thompson Responds To Samuel L. Jackson’s Claims of SNL Ban

Kenan Thompson recently responded to Samuel L. Jackson's claims that he has been banned from NBC's long-running variety show, Saturday Night Live.

Kenan Thompson Responds To Samuel L. Jackson’s Claims of SNL Ban

Kenan Thompson recently responded to Samuel L. Jackson’s claims that he has been banned from the long-running NBC variety show Saturday Night Live. Kenan has been a cast member since 2003 and currently holds the record for the longest-tenured player in the series’ history. Kenan has shown no desire to leave Saturday Night Live anytime soon and has expressed a wish to surpass 20 seasons of the show.

On the December 15, 2021 episode hosted by SNL-alum Martin Short, Jackson was featured in a cameo appearance on Kenan’s popular sketch, “What’s Up with That?,” where the host (Kenan) repeatedly interrupts his guests with song and dance numbers much to their chagrin. When it came time for Jackson to get angry, the actor exclaimed, “Man, f–k!” After a brief silence, Kenan improvises, “C’mon, Sam.” to which Jackson responds with, “This is some bullsh-t!” Kenan follows that up with another improvisation, “C’mon, now. That costs money.” After the incident, Jackson repeatedly claimed that he was banned from SNL as a result.

While visiting The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Kenan addressed Jackson’s claim that the actor had been banned from SNL. When asked about the incident and ban, Kenan rebuked the assertion and added, “I don’t have the authority to do that. I don’t know why he thinks that.” Kenan then looks into one of the cameras as if he is addressing Jackson directly and apologizes, “Hey, Sam? It’s all good, bro. You’re welcome anytime from what I’ve been hearing.” Kenan later revisited the moment and detailed what went wrong. Read what Kenan said below.

“He dropped the F-Bomb on the show and he says I was supposed to cut him off before that but the cue card, it was just an ‘F’ on the cue card. There wasn’t like the whole word was there. So, I was thinking he was just going to go like a fake move and stop at the ‘f-,’ you know what I mean? But he went full train at it because, you know, I guess he’s a method kind of guy.”
“He did it twice! When he did it the first time, I was processing like, ‘Oh, snap. He did it and I didn’t make it,’ or whatever. ‘I didn’t cut him off in time.’ That just happened. I was like, ‘Okay, whatever. That was pretty cool.’ But we kind of expect the f-word out of Sam Jackson, so no harm done. Then he doubled down and said it again, and I was like, ‘Yo, my man, we got to pay for those.'”
“Yeah, but he’s been mad at me for that. So, my bad, bro. I didn’t think he was going to do it like that. Come on in whenever you want. It’s Sam Jackson — who doesn’t want Sam Jackson on the show?”

Jackson initially placed blame on Kenan in a post to Twitter in which the actor said that he never completed the f-word, only part of it. Although Jackson continues to claim that he is banned from the show, most recently on The Ellen Show, it appears that his assertion is only in jest. As Kenan is still only a cast member, he does not have the power to ban anybody from the show. Lorne Michaels, the creator of Saturday Night Live, is the only one who can effectively bar anyone from being on the show. However, it is alleged that former NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer had comedian Norm MacDonald removed from the Weekend Update segment of the show, and then eventually fired from the series entirely.

Although there have been quite a few celebrities that have been banned from SNL over its many decades on-air, such as Kanye West for a political rant during the show’s “good nights” segment or Adrien Brody for his racist Jamaican caricature, there has yet to be a firing or ban resulting from foul language. Former SNL band member Paul Schaffer once uttered the f-word during a sketch in 1980 where he was supposed to say the word “flogging.” Still, the musician returned multiple times for many years afterward. In a 2018 episode of the show, Sam Rockwell played a teacher frustrated with two unfocused children and dropped the f-bomb and he has not received a ban. Although Jackson has yet to return to Saturday Night Live, Kenan has reassured the actor there is no ban and the actor can return anytime he wishes.